moonslav59

He has improved, recently, but when you look at his full career- minors and majors- he barely moved the needle, at all, until very recently. He has such a long way to go in this area, that it is probably impossible he can ever get to even a respectable level on K zone discipline. His current career OPS is .705, and he is still very young. If he has a long career, he could decline as he gets past 30-32, but I gotta figure he should have a higher OPS than .700 as he get to peak prime years. It will likely keep him from ever being able to stay near or over .800, even for several seasons. He might get close for one season, maybe this year, but unless he keeps improving as much as he did, this year- over and over again. On another angle, there are a few players who have very high K rates, but still put up very good OPS. Most have much higher BB rates that Rafaela has even come close to doing, so I can understand thinking he'll never get there. I have serious doubts, too. Here are a few High K batters who are over .770 career w BB%. .820 T Story 28.2 K%/ 8.0 BB% .802 Teoscar 29.2%/7.0% .774 Chris Davis 32.9K%/ 9.9% BB% Rafaela is .705 with 24.2% K and 3.4% BB. What's hard to gauge is how real is this year's improvement and can or will it continue. Last year he was at a 26.4% K rate and 2.6 BB rate, which was maybe the worst in the history of MLB. Then... 26.4% to 18.8% K rate from '24 to '25 and 2.6% BB% to 4.5% He's got power, so his SLG can carry him a bit, but he is not likely going to be Teoscar with power. 4.5% BB rate is far behind the 3 players I listed. Looking at the worst BB/K numbers with highest OPS, since 1972, I found.... (Rafaela's is .14 career but .24 in 2025.) .20 Y Diaz .760 .21 S Perez.762 .23 D Dahl .773 .24 T Carpenter .832 (just 1148 PAs) .24 Bo Jackson .784 .24 Teoscar .802 It is a rare thing to see: I admit. I think we have to hope he can improve on 0.24, otherwise he will be one of two guys in over 50 years to hit over .800 and have that bad of a rate.

I doubt any would, but a good one, anyway.

What will his season ending OPS be? Or, what will his OPS be from today to the season end?

I guess my point is that it is hard to get a batter to change that aspect of hitting approach without it affecting his ability to hit good pitches. It usually takes adjusting how you recognize pitches and the twitch time you have, once you decide to swing. If it takes a split second more to decide, it would greatly affect your results.

I'd give Chapman $12M/1 with a second year club option at $12M with a $2M buyout. (Basically, $14M/1 or $24M/2.) I agree on Bregman. I'd love 3, but 4 gets him to sign, IMO.

You make the assumption that the ability to lay off bad pitches does not change anything else. Maybe he hesitates 1/1000 of a second on good pitches, too, as he attempts to lay off bad ones. It's not so simple, of many could be a star at batting.

In theory, yes, but some guys just seem to be able to hit well enough, despite this issue. I remember posters bashing Papi for his inability to lay off the sinkers down and away. When he slumped, some wanted him moved down in the order or worse. One thing I've always doubted is that if you mess with a successful batter, who has little strike zone discipline, maybe you mess him up. Of course, it makes sense that if Rafaela changed nothing else, except to lay off bad pitches, he'd have to be better, but I have to think you are changing a batters whole approach, and you have to be careful what you wish for.

If we won't move any OF'er to 1B, once should be traded.

It looks that way, but it's never bothered me that much, as long as the hitter (or team) is producing. As long as Rafaela keeps this up, I don't mind if he swings at balls 6 feet off the plate.

Travieso went 4.1 of 1 hit ball w 3 Ks and 0 BBs. J Bello went 2.2 w 1H, 2K and 0 BB. FCL won 7-0, today.

This happens.

Or 4.

If Duran keeps hitting homers, he'll never steal another base!

Story has been a big part of this team.

I'm thinking even Casas + Early is too much for a rental 1Bman, but I think I'd go that high for a good one. (No more, though.)

They ruined him for life. Now he can't even hit in the minors, anymore! (Green font)

Shoulda given Duran a 1Bman's mitt. Jh Garcia is a better defensive OF'er, but he could practice 1B in AAA.

Agree. 0.001% chance he ever gets a MLB GS in 2025. I would totally understand if he does not get a 2025 MLB call up.

Fred is super negative in game threads, and our record on come from behind wins is pretty bad, so he hit rate is pretty damn good, but I actually think he has some very good insights mixed in with all the negativity. He's respectful, too, so that helps.

The -0.6 fWAR is hard to overlook. (-0.7 bWAR) Bello has done very well with Wong catching him, so I'm not sure replacing Wong is as urgent as many seem to think. I still have 1B as a higher need on the everyday player side of the ledger. Toto has a 52 wRC+ since June 13th and a -0.6 fWAR (101 PAs) That's the same amount of PAs Wong has on the season and the same fWAR! Toro has been a near FT player: Wong starts every 5 games. Toro's OPS since June 13th: 553 OPS. Wong's is a sickening .281, but his work with Bello and not playing FT, moves him down on my priority rankings. 1. SP (solid #2 type w years of control) 2. 1Bman 3. RP 4. Back-up catcher

Bringing Tolle up is an interesting idea. He's looking great. Hard to know how a rough time might affect his psyche. I'm not sure that worry outweighs our needs.

Please: NO Vazquez.

That's one way to keep Duran and Abreu! LOL!

Yes, damn good. The guy had a 5.2 fWAR in just 235 IP from 2021-2022. That's excellent. 3.17 ERA (26th is not spectacular, but pretty good) 77 ERA- (23rd best) was better than Gausman, Gallen, Cole, Castillo and others for those two years. From '21 to '23 his numbers dropped, some but were still pretty good: 7.5 fWAR 3.53 ERA (122 ERA+) 84 ERA- ranked 26th- above Cease, Nate, Castillo +++ The guy was pretty damn good.

We are still just 2 behind the Yanks, who just a few weeks ago, looked like a sure top AL contender. TBR is -1.5 TEX -3 LAA -4 CLE -4.5 MIN -5 KCR -5.5